QB Eli Manning
September 10, 2018
Q: Your thoughts on yesterday’s game?
A: Yeah, similar. There’s some decent stuff, some good stuff, really. I think we hurt ourselves some. Too many times we got behind the sticks. I think we had five plays over 3rd & 11. That just means first and second down, you’re having negative plays, penalties or sacks, or whatever. Got to get better at that. Just clean up a few things. There’s some good things. It’s just everybody. Everybody kind of had enough things that they need to do better, starting with me, that we can do to put us in a better position to win that game.
Q: Do you take a positive away from this game in the fact that you all played against a really good team?
A: I think you always look for the positives. We went against a good team, a good defense. We had some big plays, we had some opportunities. We got to hit a few more of them. We had a chance to win the game at the end, and we just didn’t quite make enough plays.
Q: Is it dangerous to rely on those big plays too often?
A: No, I don’t think you’re reliant on big plays. That’s football, though. It doesn’t have to be 60-yard gains, but you still have to hit some 15-yard gains, and you got to get first downs, and you got to have some explosives that still have to be a part of your offense. You can’t be going backwards if you’re not getting them. We can’t have the penalties. That’s preventing you from being in opportunities to take your shots. We got to run the ball better, then that’ll help out the play-action. All those things kind of help. We just had runs going backwards, we had penalties. It’s hard to get into all the plays you want to get to when you’re second-and-long.
Q: What did you think of the offensive line yesterday?
A: I thought the offensive line did a good job going against a good front. That’s why their team has been so successful. Their front four is extremely talented, and they get pressure on the quarterback. I thought those guys competed. They hung in there tough. Obviously, that’s football. There’s times where you get some pressure, and you got to make good decisions with it. There’s some times we had great protection, and had a ton of time to really push the ball down the field.
Q: What do you say to a young player like (LT) Ereck Flowers who committed a penalty in two of the first three plays of the game?
A: You got to keep going. That’s football. In every game, it’s never going to be perfect. Sometimes you can get off to a great start. Sometimes you can get off to a slow start. You put it behind you, go to the next series, and it can only get better.
Q: Were you curious to see how the team came in this morning after the loss?
A: There’s kind of that fine line between hanging your head but not being okay with it. I thought, obviously, guys were disappointed. I think everybody knows that each one of us individually has to play a little bit better. I think that’s going to push us and drive us to practice smarter, prepare better, and go play better.
Q: This is the first loss with Coach (Pat) Shurmur. I’m sure there were a lot of eyes on him to let him set the tone.
A: Yeah, you’re going to follow the direction of the head coach. I think he expressed it’s not good enough, but I’m proud of the way you guys fought, competed, and hung in there until the very end, and found a way to kind of stay in the game. Had an opportunity to win it at the end. We just didn’t do it.
Q: What did you think of (WR) Odell’s (Beckham Jr.) first game back? Seems like you guys targeted him about 15 times.
A: Yeah, we’re going to do that. We want to try to get him the ball. They’re a one-high team (safety). We got a lot of one-on-one coverage. I thought he looked good. I thought he was running well. Ran some great routes, got open, and looked explosive.
Q: The deep pass on the left hash, is that one you look back at and say and kind of regret?
A: No, I thought I threw it in a great spot. It was just a deal. Kind of the way that route was. He did everything right. We kind of had to talk about it, from a game plan and from kind of his rules. Kind of got to talk about that route a little bit. He ran it the right way. So, I kind of threw a deeper post, which it wasn’t, just to try to give him a shot. I think I threw it in a good spot. He kind of ran into the safety a little bit and got thrown off course. We just weren’t able to connect on it. Kind of an unfortunate deal rather than like a missed opportunity.
Q: Can you elaborate on that last play before the half? It seems like you moved Barkley to your right, and the pressure came from that side and he went left.
A: They came out with an all-out-blitz, so I changed the protection to try to pick it up. We’re still going to be one short, kind of no matter what. They’re bringing one more than we can got, but you just try to kind of slide all the line. This gave us a little extra time to kind of throw it up. We got to talk about that one also, and get on the same page with the offensive line, for that type of blitz. Just to buy a little extra time to give Odell a chance for me to throw it in a spot where I kind of know where he might be. I had to throw it just before. You’re not going to be able to hold it long, I knew that. Just an extra count where I can kind of see his angle and know where to put it in a safe spot.
Q: What did you see on the two-point conversion?
A: It was close. They had a pretty good defense. Had a chance, he got held up. It’s tough for Saquon. He just had an 80-yard run and try to come do a two-point conversion. Just didn’t quite execute well enough to get it.
Q: How many of the things that were a little off can be attributed to this was only opening day with so many new parts?
A: Yes, 100 percent. When you have new things, new guys, there’s going to be corrections. They’re going to be adjustments you make in the offense, or things we weren’t ready for or we had to talk about. That’s always going to happen. I think the first game is where those things are going to come up. Things that we’ll be better prepared for next time, and talk about, fix things so we’ll be able to take advantage of it going forward.
Q: Coach Shurmur said you audibled out of the two-point conversion. Does that mean the play he called wasn’t going to work based on how the defense was lined up?
A: You never know. It was an audible kind of within the system. I made the right audible based on what we talked about. Just didn’t make it.
Q: What was going on with your headset? Did you have a technical malfunction?
A: Yeah, it was the first half. I had a hard time hearing Coach Shurmur a few times. I didn’t think anything was necessarily real wrong with it. Then the first play of the second half, it just cut out completely, and then they got a new helmet. Then after that, it was much clearer the whole second half than it was the first half. So, I guess I just had a bad connection or whatever. I’m not sure.
Q: Did Saquon seem more comfortable in the second half to you?
A: Had the one big run. I think the offensive line had some nice holes, had some good things. I didn’t really notice a first half/second half difference. He’s going to get better each and every week, and get more reps at things. He hadn’t played a whole lot of football. Didn’t play a whole lot during the preseason. So, he’ll get more comfortable with everything going on.
